Legal Tussle Over Malaysia's Bakun Dam in Sarawak Rainforests Continues

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

7/21/96

OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE

Following is a photocopy of a Reuters article concerning the recent legal

maneuvering in the Malaysian Bakun Dam case. The 2,400-megawatt dam will

be one of the world's largest, placed in the rain forests of Sarawak state

on Borneo island. The project will clear 69,000 hectares (170,000 acres)

of forest land and force "more than 9,000 tribal residents to move." Local

tribal groups continue legal battles to stop dam construction pending an

environmental impact statement.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Bakun dam plaintiffs withdraw contempt application

7/19/96

KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 (Reuter) - The legal tussle over Malaysia's $5.5

billion Bakun hydro-electric dam eased a little on Friday after a group

seeking to halt work on the project dropped a contempt of court

application.

But the three tribals who will be affected by the dam are pressing ahead

with their battle to stop the dam's construction until a new environmental

impact study is done.

The 2,400-megawatt dam, set to be one of the world's largest, is to be

built by the year 2002 in the rain forests of Sarawak state on Borneo

island.

The project will clear 69,000 hectares (170,000 acres) of forest land,

flood an area the size of Singapore and force more than 9,000 tribal

residents to move.

In response to the tribals' lawsuit, the Malaysian High Court on June 19

ruled that Ekran Bhd, the dam's main contractor, could not conduct any work

related to the dam construction, saying it had broken environmental laws.

If that court order was disobeyed, Ekran, and its chairman Ting Pek Khiing

faced contempt of court charges.

But the Court of Appeal on July 13 suspended the High Court's order,

allowing Ekran to continue work on the project pending a final decision by

the Court of Appeal on whether the company has broken environmental laws.

Ekran has said it was not doing any work prohibited by the earlier High

Court decision.

In withdrawing the contempt application during an hour-long High Court

hearing on Friday, G.S. Nijar, the lawyer for the tribals, said the

plaintiffs were accepting "in good faith" Ekran's affidavit that it was not

carrying out activities against the High Court's June ruling.

During Friday's hearing, High Court Judge James Foong, who had originally

issued the order suspending work on Bakun, asked Ekran's lawyer Muhammad

Shafee Abdullah if the company is carrying out any work which would be in

contempt of the court.

Muhammad Shafee said Ekran was not. "If Ekran had wanted to ignore the

(High Court) declaration, then it wouldn't have gone to the Court of

Appeal," he said.

He argued that as Nijar had accepted in good faith Ekran's affidavit, the

plaintiffs should also drop the injunction application, a move the

plaintiffs have declined.

The High Court hearing on the injunction has been adjourned until after the

Court of Appeal delivers its ruling. Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal may

rule on the case in a month after postponing its decision at a hearing last

Friday.

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